The fierce competition among political parties in the Welsh European elections has failed to propel voters to the polls, turnout figures show.

The winners of Wales’ four seats in the European Parliament will not be announced until Sunday night but fewer than one in three (32%) in Wales cast a vote.

Speculation that Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives , who topped the poll in 2009, could fail to win an MEP injected drama into the campaign but did not result in a majority making it to the polling booth.

Blaenau Gwent and Merthyr Tydfil had the lowest turnout rates in Wales at just 27%. In Cardiff, 32% voted.

The highest turnout was on Anglesey (38%), ahead of Ceredigion, Powys and the Vale of Glamorgan on 37%.

Steve Brooks, director of the Electoral Reform Society Cymru said: “Whilst this low turn-out is far from surprising it should provide a wake-up call that business as usual cannot carry on. Interest in European affairs has rarely been higher in the minds of voters, yet the scene of empty polling stations this week highlights the lack of enthusiasm voters have in European democracy.

“Whoever is elected this weekend must commit to being a loud voice in Brussels for democratic reform. We need to give the Assembly and Westminster a greater role in scrutinising UK ministers attending high-level European meetings.

“We need to slim down the super-sized European Commission, and end the arrangement where the European Parliament sits in Strasbourg for some of the time.”

UK-wide parties are also keeping a close eye on the English council results, which show that so far Labour has made a net gain of 268 seats, and Ukip has 150 new councillors. The Greens have added 15.

In contrast, the Conservatives have lost 189 and the Lib Dems have seen their total go down by 260. Labour has gained control of six more councils while the Conservatives have lost 11 and the Lib Dems two.

Conservative Education Secretary Michael Gove stamped on suggestions his party will do a deal with Ukip. He said this would “absolutely not” happen.

But he said: “We know that a number of people have voted for the United Kingdom Independence Party in order to send a very clear message.

“They want to make sure that the Government delivers on the policies of controlling immigration, making sure that we reform our welfare state, making sure that we get a proper referendum in Europe and the instructions from the electorate are loud and clear.”

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “There are areas of the country where now we have got an imprint in local government. Under the first-past-the-post system we are serious players.”

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone said Labour had woken up to the threat from Ukip “a bit too late”.

Rhondda Labour MP Chris Bryant said on Twitter: “I’ve knocked a lot of doors recently and a lot of voters are very angry, very very angry... [I] think anger has propelled many to vote Ukip or not vote at all, not apathy.”

Islwyn Labour MP Chris Evans doubted that Ukip would be a major force in the 2015 Westminster elections, arguing their key issues were “far more visual” in the European vote.

However, he said an “anti-politics” mood had been in the country since around 2008 and people were “crying out” for a “change in the way we do politics.”

Montgomeryshire Conservative MP Glyn Davies said Ukip’s performance demonstrated there was public appetite for “plain-speaking” among politicians.

He said: “We expected them to do very well and I think they have. I must say, I think Nigel Farage and Ukip have made politics more interesting...

“I do think there are lessons to be learned in the sense that a lot of the public want straight talking. I think what we’ve come to expect as the normal rules of politics where the slightest misdemeanour is some huge gaffe and is reported as being terminal for careers is simply not true.

“Every supposed gaffe that a Ukip councillor has made, it seems to have had no effect on the popularity at all. I just think the public like plain-speaking.

“They hate people reading off a script. They hate people reading the same old words.”

He added: “The one thing we have learned in the last fortnight is despite the best efforts of the media generally and other parties to denigrate and rubbish Ukip is it seems to have had no effect whatsoever on their support. That tells me the public are a lot more interested in simple messages, plan-speaking, than they are in the nuance of the Westminster language.”

It was too early to say, he added whether Ukip would have a long-term impact.

He said: “I well remember the SDP that was going to change British politics for good. We even had a position where the Greens were going to change British politics for good, so you just don’t know.

“But I sense this is a real force everybody should be taking particularly seriously. My own approach to Ukip where I live is I’ve always got on with them very well; I certainly would never accuse the Ukip people I know of racism, which I think is a very serious charge... They have forced us to talk about immigration which is a bit of a no-no subject, an important subject to the people that everybody steered clear of – well, Ukip have just talked about it.”

Ukip candidate Nathan Gill was not surprised that Anglesey had the highest turnout in Wales.

He said: “It didn’t start to rain until about nine o’clock in the evening. We had no rain at all... so the good people of Anglesey had no excuse for not getting out there.”

Mr Gill added: “Anglesey is obviously a Plaid stronghold – Plaid Cymru were working extremely hard to get their people out; they are very fearful about losing their one MEP’s seat... I’d be surprised if we topped the poll on Anglesey but I’m hoping for a good second on Anglesey.”

If a majority of people who have voted Ukip in this election back the party in the Westminster poll, he said, an “earthquake” would take place in UK politics.

He said: “It will absolutely affect the result of the general election in many, many ways. We’ve already got several target seats in Wales in mind.”

Mr Gill said he had seen portions of the Westminster manifesto and it contained “great answers and good solutions to all of these problems”.

“That’s what so many people were saying when they cast their ballot for Ukip. The great positive for Labour is that we already knew that was the case and we are determined to prove to people that we are the only party with the ideas, the determination and the ability to deliver the change people want....

“We need to spend the next year continuing to flesh out those plans, offering a radical and deliverable programme for a government to transform the prospects for the people of Wales and the whole of the UK. If we do that we will expose the Tories’ unwillingness to face up to the need for change and Ukip’s inability to deliver it.

“Labour has made a start today – winning 300 council seats and becoming the largest party in local government once more – but we need to redouble our efforts now, and we will.”